Impediments to identifying freehold land rights in N.S.W.

Abstract

[Abstract]: The objective of an efficient land administration is to clarify the extent, duration and purpose of land rights enjoyed over any given land resource.

Achieving certainty in the definition and application of all Rights, Obligations and Restrictions (RORs) over a parcel of land is of utmost priority. It is the primaryintention of this project to recognise any impediments that may hinder the efficient identification of all RORs that may exist over a parcel of freehold land in N.S.W.

A comprehensive typology for the investigation of all RORs that can exist over freehold land was created and applied to a freehold parcel of land, with any impediments noted.

Several impediments were identified being that extensive research is required prior to any search, that an exhaustive typology is required prior to any search, that the administration system is currently split amongst independent organisations with different methodologies and little cross communication, that difficulties wereexperienced with the public interface of several land administration organizations, that registrars limit their liability and therefore it cannot be assumed all relevant detail has been obtained, that unforeseeable interests may exist and that RORs are continuously evolving.

The application of the created typology was found to be relatively efficient and inexpensive when tested on the subject case study. This has implications for land administration reform and may not require a complete overhaul as suggested by some authors.

The assumption that the land administration system is inefficient and requires reform has been supported by the findings of this project.